Arabic 2 (LL233)

Summary

Level:

This module will be offered to students who have completed Learning Arabic 1 or who already have some basic knowledge of Arabic- equivalent to that covered by the Learning Arabic 1 syllabus.

Main Objectives:

To continue to work on basic sentence patterns, grammar and ways of expressions, develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in a range of predictable everyday tasks and gain greater knowledge of Arabic society.

Credits:

This 30 CREDIT module is also available for 24 CREDITS.

Teaching:

3 hours language class each week for 21 weeks.
Students are reminded that 1 credit = 10 hours of study, therefore the minimum expected amount of study is 240 hours, which averages over 10 hours per week. A substantial amount of independent study is therefore required.

Course Description

The course is aimed at students who completed level 1 or those who have equivalent knowledge as described in detail for that level at the University of Warwick Language Centre website.

The course aims at enhancing the learning process in all the communication skills of reading, writing, listening, speaking and grammar but in more in-depth.

Reading Comprehension: students will be exposed to authentic texts of various topics with detailed in-class discussions which aim at teaching strategies and skills that are necessary for fluent reading. From those texts students will be engaged in question-answer sessions and will be given exercises with the purpose of understanding the processes behind these texts.

Writing and Speaking: students will be engaged in writing exercises on authentic themes discussed in the class. The approach is not using the vocabulary in its “isolate” form but its use in real contexts. “Find Out” activities and simple interviews with classmates will be introduced. Students will be given a regular homework on a specific theme and discussions will take place around students’ production to identify new structures and common patterns of errors.

Listening: much of the reading activities will be conjoined with listening comprehension of authentic texts. Students will listen to audio/visual material several times before they engage in open ended questions that give an indication of their understanding. The material is very selective and aims at enhancing the learning of this skill at different tempos.

Grammar: the learning of this skill will be through a combination of the narrative framework, reading comprehension and writing drills produced by students. The texts of this skill are authentic stories where the natural sequencing of structure is discussed and analysed. The new grammatical skills will include full details of the past and present tense verbs, interrogative particles, some plural forms, negation of the present tense, and cases (nominative, accusative, and genitive).

Culture: the course will include a cultural component derived from interviews, various video clips and short drama scenes where students can discuss in the class and watch at home.

Colloquial Varieties: due to the varying dialects spoken across the Arab World, you will get to appreciate the major differences between MSA and the dialects through a summary of the processes involved that make those dialects deviate from MSA form. This will be done through listening to audio clips and watching short video clips.